Engl. transl.: Preliminary findings of the EU Kids Online 2018 Estonian survey

The internet, smartphones and other online technologies have become an integral part of everyday life, which is why the questions about the social impact and consequences of these phenomena are becoming increasingly important. Children, young people and their families are often the first to use new technology, benefiting from the opportunities offered by the internet, social media portals, online games and so on. At the same time, they are exposed to various risks, and the resulting damage and the possibilities for dealing with it are constantly changing. The aim of the EU Kids Online survey is to find out children's and their parents' internet use habits, digital literacy, awareness of the risks associated with using the internet and skills to avoid these dangers. The EU Kids Online network brings together researchers from more than 30 European countries, focusing on research into the use of new media by children and young people. In Estonia, the EU Kids Online survey was conducted for the first time in 2010 and for the second time in 2018. The report is based on the 2018 survey.

"The use of the internet is thoroughly embedded in Estonian children’s daily lives: 97% of children aged 9–17 accessed the internet every day, using at least one device." (Sukk & Soo, 2018, p. 6) "The children felt confident online, saying that that they rarely needed guidance when using the internet." (Sukk & Soo, 2018, p. 6) "The children turned to their friends (41%) or parents (40%) to talk about their concerns regarding the internet. At the same time, as many as 27% of the children who had seen something disturbing online kept it to themselves." (Sukk & Soo, 2018, p. 7) "Estonian parents are confident internet users: 79% of those who participated in the survey said that they knew a lot about using the internet. At the same time, they believed that their children were even more skilled: only half of the parents said that they knew more about the internet than their children did." (Sukk & Soo, 2018, p. 8) "Estonian parents are active mediators of their children’s internet use and safety. Most of the parents (92%) said that they talked to their children about what the children did online or gave advice about using the internet safely (59%). Children, however, considered their parents’ role in the mediation of their internet use to be much smaller: e.g. only 54% of children said that their parents talked to them at least sometimes about what they were doing online. Hence, parents and children did not agree on the frequency of parental mediation." (Sukk & Soo, 2018, p. 8)